The Coming Unrest

America, Emergency Preparedness, Family

If you think what you’re seeing on television in major cities is bad now, wait till Trump wins the election on November 3rd and the Left doesn’t just refuse to accept the outcome, but puts into effect their plans for escalated violence! It is already plotting to move the riots to the suburbs and their leaders are hell bent on sending their minions out to “resist”. It is NOT hyperbole to suggest that a full scale revolution is brewing, right before our eyes and right here in River City.

Gun sales have soared – no surprise! 9MM and .223/5.56 ammunition are virtually unavailable. Rural America has been armed and ready for years. Suburbia is just catching up. The BIG QUESTION is: “What will you do if and when a mob comes down your street with molotov cocktails in hand, stops in front of your house, and prepares to throw them at you?”

The time is now to think about preparing for this previously unimaginable scenario. And preparation doesn’t just mean stocking up on supplies of basics. It also means preparing contingency plans for family members who may need to escape the violence. It means preparing for widespread power outages, no internet, no cell service.

Are you prepared to take the steps necessary to protect your family and yourself? Do you know what criteria you will apply to make the decision as to whether to shelter in place or bug out? And what if a mob indeed threatens your family or your property? Have you considered under what circumstances you’re prepared to pull the trigger? It’s one thing to arm yourself. It’s another to fire a weapon in self defense. Even showing that you’re prepared to defend yourself can lead to trouble. Just ask the McCloskey’s of St. Louis who are being charged with felonies for daring to do just that!

There are scores of websites dedicated to preparing for the kind of civil unrest that’s happening and accelerating. I urge my readers to spend some time thinking about their unique circumstances, needs and considerations should the disasters we’re seeing in major and now even minor cities come to your doorstep.

A caution. Just as it is with the news, which I’ve urged readers to largely ignore, visiting prepper websites can scare the hell out of you! Just remember that preparing for the worst doesn’t mean it’ll materialize. As one site put it, if nothing terrible happens “chalk up your preparedness efforts to being that much better prepared for future disaster or crisis. But if we do see problems, do you really want to face them blind and unprepared?”

It’s really hard to believe what’s happening in America today, but the Left, ill-defined and chaotic as it may be, is absolutely dedicated to destroying our country and that unifying theme makes them not just a competing ideology anymore, but a “clear and present danger”.

An individual elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, is required by law to take the following oath: “I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

There is no higher responsibility, in my opinion, than the defense of one’s life and that of his or her loved ones. The Left is now precisely the “domestic enemy” cited in the oath. We must be prepared to bear true faith and allegiance to defending our Constitution, and our lives, against them.

May God Bless America in this time of trouble.

The COVID Scam

Government, Health Care, Politics, Science

This week the CDC finally admitted that of the ~180,000 “murdered by Donald Trump” (to quote the Left), 6% (or about 11,000 if my arithmetic is right) died from the virus. Everyone else had, on average, 2.6 additional conditions which caused their death. I’m not making this up. See this link for the details, but here’s a screen grab of the actual statement, buried down in the reams of data and analysis prepared by the back-room gnomes who routinely take invalid, faulty or made-up data and turn it into pretty graphs and multi-colored reports that makes it all so official and appear authoritative.

Here’s the significance of the CDC admission. Of the 180,000 who have died, 11,000 died FROM the virus. The rest died WITH the virus. That’s a HUGE distinction!

Even these 6% and 2.6 numbers are questionable, but the admission that the virus, while it may have hastened their demise, hasn’t killed all those people also corroborates what people resistant to televised or printed nonsense and the ability to think critically, or even those with just common sense, have concluded and been saying for months now!

In a previous post I pointed out that today EVERYTHING is political, and polarized between Left and Right. The Left wants the virus to be seen to be as bad as possible so they can both blame the current administration and set things up so government can ultimately “save” everyone, once they’re fully in control. The Right, while of course trying to shape the narrative in their favor, nevertheless seek to put things into perspective…into a positive, hopeful light, because they actually care about us and the country.

There are some principles that transcend politics, however. Included among them is, “Follow the money.”

Here’s the simple truth. The healthcare system is largely based on a system that has a physician or medical institution provide care and be reimbursed either by the government (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.), by health insurance companies or by individual patients, or some combination of the above (each a “Payer”). Medical provider revenues (and profits) are maximized by playing what I’ve long called the “coding game”. When a medical provider submits its “invoice” to the Payer it assigns both diagnosis as well as procedure “codes” to their bill. These codes dictate, in most cases, how much reimbursement the provider receives.

Is it any wonder that the reimbursement for treatment of an infectious disease during a pandemic would be higher than for an upper-respiratory infection or even the flu? It should be obvious that it is in the healthcare provider’s best economic interest to code treatment or treatments such that they maximize reimbursement. The dirty little secret is that providers, when given an option to code treatment for a patient dying of emphysema or COVID treatment will opt for the latter, or include both. Why? Because even though it was the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that killed the patient, reimbursement for treatment of COVID is higher.

And it should also be obvious that hospitals, seeking to net as much helicoptered money as the Federal government has doled out as they can, will benefit from jacking up their COVID numbers as well. It’s no wonder therefore, that we’re told that ~180,000 have been killed by the virus!

Follow the money.

Turn off the news. Stop listening to the “experts”. Use common sense. Don’t cough in other peoples’ faces and don’t let them cough in yours. Don’t let the Left destroy our country. Vote them out this November.

No More Mister Nice Guy

America, Government, Media, Politics, Society & Culture

Got home late Wednesday and turned on the third night of the Republican Convention coverage. Watching the live feed from C-Span I was struck, as many have already pointed out, by the high production values of the broadcast (that’s a synonym for stagecraft, which in turn is media-speak for the skills and techniques used in the enhancement of motion picture or television productions). For grins and giggles I flipped over to first, MSNBC, then CNN to see what they were saying.

I wanted to throw up. The sniveling, the dismissiveness, the mischaracterizations, the “don’t listen to them, look at this shiny object over here” deception, the projection of everything the Left has been saying and doing onto the RNC speakers…it was infuriating.

Whether or not you thought the administration of the oath of citizenship the night before or the speech given by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from Jerusalem were theater, for the Leftists to cry and gnash their teeth that these were “political stunts” made me yell at the screen, “You are the MASTERS of political stunts…you ought to know!” Please see Exhibits A, B, C and D: the spying on the Trump campaign, the Russia collusion hoax, the pathetic and treasonous impeachment nonsense, and the Kavanaugh character assassination, just to cite a few premier examples of the Left’s political stunt production!

I relished the thought that for once, the GOP had taken the gloves off and started to fight fire with fire. I also thought…”You can dish it out Democrats, but you just can’t take it can you?”

It was as if I was standing on the side of the path leading down to the gates of Hell, watching with revulsion a hydra with all but its last head severed, writhing back and forth as flames surrounded it and it strained against an invisible force pushing it back down into its black hole in the earth. The Left is that hydra, and while it may not be completely dead after November 3rd, it will, I predict, be wringing its claws and licking its wounds for a long time into the future.

I recently had a conversation with a Brit living here in the U.S. who, though a conservative, finds the demagoguery and mud-slinging of the current campaigns detestable, or in her words, “bad form”. “Why”, she asked, “can’t the politicians simply state what they have done or will do, how it will benefit their constituents, and avoid all the trash-talking?” “Why won’t the GOP take the High Road.”

I calmly explained that the Republican Party has been taking the High Road for 40 years plus years. But though using reason, logic, espousing patriotism, traditional values and motivated largely by wanting to do what is right for this country, the GOP has fallen further and further behind the Left in the court of public opinion. The Left’s production values, in recasting their deceit, hypocrisy and antipathy towards the values and principles that made the United States great as something GOOD rather than the evil it actually is, has brainwashed, warped the thinking of and created a false reality that is bought only by the holier-than-thou-the-rules-don’t-apply-to-me-cocktails-in-hand Hollywood, Tech-land and Wall Street elites, the naive snowflakes of Gen Z, the permanently dependent, the self-made losers and victims looking for the next free Obama-phone. In recent years they have numbered just about half of the population, unbelievably. Trump, bull-in-a-china-shop disrupter, New York real-estate thug, street-fighter and counter-puncher, who, like the Democrats, doesn’t care what people think of him personally, was precisely the kind of candidate in 2016 who could take on and defeat the Leftist/Clinton machine.

In 2020, I explained, the Left having had their butts handed to them in 2016 and learned something from it, have pulled out all the stops…in fact, they will stop at NOTHING, to try to avoid their writhing, thrashing, wailing, burning retreat into the black place from which they emanated.

Civility, decorum, good manners, understatement, “rising above it all” be damned. The Right has to fight and if that means descending into the muck with the Left and throwing the BS flag whenever they spout garbage so be it. The future for our kids and grand kids was at stake in 2016. We won that battle, but the stakes are even greater in 2020.

So the answer to the question as to why the GOP can’t take the High Road this time is embodied in the coffee cup quip…

“No more mister nice guy!”

Analog vs. Digital

America, Entertainment, Society & Culture, Technology

When was the last time you listened to a phonograph record, a nice clean one without pops and scrapes? I hadn’t in years but the other day I dusted off my old turntable and put on my now antique Moody Blues, “Days of Future Passed” album. Some of you may recall it was one of the first that blended psychedelic rock with backing from a classical orchestra.

As the opening score of “Dawn is a Feeling” diffused through the room, I suddenly remembered why God gave us ears! The sound of the analog recording, with its rich textures, melodic undertones and overtones, its depth and the haunting strings punctuated by the brass… honest to goodness made me misty. “Cold hearted orb, that rules the night…”

The clarity, the smoothness, the absence of that over-produced tininess that accompanies all the stuff coming off Pandora, was jarring. 

I thought to myself, “We’ve become so accustomed to the digital and systems-driven world we’ve forgotten how superior the analog one is!” The shortcomings of the digital world are manifest everywhere. Think of how good it is to actually reach a human being once you’ve gotten through voice-mail jail? Or how good a hamburger on the grill tastes compared with what you get from the drive-up window.

The Wall Street Journal had an op-ed the other day with the title “Why Are There Still Not Enough Paper Towels?” The crux of the answer is that systems and digital, just-in-time manufacturing results in the slimmest inventories of everything from paper towels to automobile parts. When there is a surge in demand, such as with the pandemic, manufacturing simply cannot keep up.

Alas, therein is the consequence of moving from an analog to digital society. Hyper efficiency and the quest to maximize profit results in bare shelves when a virus explodes demand for hand sanitizer and toilet paper.

Can or should we move back to a kindler, gentler world, one where we don’t try to extract maximum utility from every minute of every day using apps and robotic shelf stocking?

Regrettably, it ain’t gonna happen. Gen Z doesn’t know what an LP sounds like, and frankly, wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the original analog recording of “Nights in White Satin” and the compressed, 44k sampled digital version emanating from their ear buds.

From spraying artificial flowers with fake flower scent, which means you can make a philodendron smell like jasmine…to almond milk which tastes kind of like real milk, the virtual world is becoming the REAL WORLD.

“So what”, you say?

Well, find yourself a stereo turntable hooked up to a McIntosh tube amplifier and a pair of quality, vintage speakers, put on a pristine 33 1/3 LP of “Days of Future Passed”, sit back, close your eyes and listen.

THAT’S what.

Their Platform is Chaos

America, Education, Government, Health Care, Media, Politics, Reason, Religion, Science, Society & Culture, Technology, Values

Who but limousine liberals unaffected by government policy either through exemption (e.g. Leftist politicians) or due to inoculating wealth (e.g. Hollywood celebrities or tech tycoons)… the intellectually indolent, the perpetual victims, the “low information voters” as Rush Limbaugh calls them (a euphemism for illiterate or cerebrally lazy people easily swayed by demagoguery), the race-baiters or the grievance acolytes… could possibly support the Democrats in 2020?

Really, no-one who has any self-respect – who cares about principles such as meritocracy, excellence, achievement, probity, self-reliance, self-determination, traditional sexual identification, traditional education, traditional family structure, that life (or at least the potential of life) begins at conception, that there is a God (or at a minimum a set of eternal rules of right and wrong that are immutable and transcend all generations)…could support the Democrats in 2020!

I had a conversation the other day with my Board-certified internist during my annual physical exam who, when asked for his opinion on the Wuhan Virus pandemic, started to recite the scripts of WHO, CDC, AMA, Johns Hopkins, and other canned platitudes. Little did he know at first that I spent several years running an early intervention healthcare company based on epidemiological research. When I began to confront him, gently mind you as he was about to check my prostate, with the emerging evidence that the Wuhan plague/pandemic is no worse than a bad flu and cited evidence of how faulty is so much of the data on which decisions are being made and regulations being promulgated, did he start to back off and admit that “we just don’t know.”

I was going to let him off the hook until he said, “I’m concerned, however, about the Second Wave.” At that, I asked him the question, “What is the metric that will allow kids to go back to school normally, that will allow us to stop wearing face diapers, that will signal an end to the crisis?” I was gratified that he conceded that should the Democrats prevail in the coming election, everything will all be over beginning November 4th, not because he’ll vote Republican, but because it was an admission that most of what underpins the rhetoric and discourse is political.  I then ran down the list of disastrous economic and societal consequences the government response at all levels has wrought and then, fortunately, found common ground with him as we delved into a cost-benefit discussion and both agreed that rational decision making and critical thinking was sorely needed.

My half hour session went an hour. A nurse had to bang on the door of the exam room to remind my Doc he had another patient waiting.

As I left the office I got to wondering about how it is that a highly-educated, highly-skilled physician could be persuaded to lazily rely on and spout institutional pablum. I concluded that the damage caused to all our institutions: medical, educational, social, religious, economic, even family structures has created so much chaos that even the smartest among us are overwhelmed by the tsunami of, frankly, BS that has invaded every facet of our lives. Out of sheer enervation even the strongest of us have had to pause from the fight to catch our breath. Meanwhile, the ability of the Left to sew chaos through outright deceit, lies, projection (especially projection) and carpet-bombing with idiocy has continued unabated. The megaphone in the hands of the Leftist media, regrettably, doesn’t take much electrical power.

This is precisely what the Left wants to do. Create so much chaos that only THEY can fix things. Only THEY will be able to unravel the mess…so long as they are granted unlimited power to do so. For that is their goal…POWER! I didn’t used to believe it. I thought there were Democrats who were classic liberals, who believed in the American way of life but wanted to ensure that we looked after those who truly were less fortunate, were REAL victims… No more. Now the Democrats just lust for power as they arrogantly, absurdly believe that if they control everything and everyone they’ll move us all toward their utopian fantasy. That fantasy is the stuff of socialism/communism and while they know it’s a fantasy, it isn’t about actually creating a utopia. It’s about POWER, the thing Leftist politicians must have much as water or oxygen.

We must shake off our weariness and continue to fight to expose the Left’s dysfunctional, delusional, adolescent enchantment with and pipe-dream of utopia and their deplorable thirst for power.

In a small way, having that extended conversation with my doctor made me feel like I was able to get off a few rounds in that fight.

Prejudice and Discrimination

America, Morality, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture

I admit it. I am guilty of prejudice and discrimination. I am prejudiced against a whole host of things. And yes, I discriminate. I am discriminating in my choices of many things. Neither makes me a racist, a white supremacist, a misogynist, a warmonger or any of a range of other labels the Left would love nothing more than to attach to me.

I am prejudiced against uncivilized behavior. Growing up in Europe in the 60’s I cringed at the often loud, madras-clad American tourists who would act as if they owned the world, and I was embarassed by them. Today I’m equally repulsed by the barbaric behavior of so-called “protesters” rioting in so many cities across the country. I am put off by people in restaurants who speak loudly and laugh uproariously as if they were the only patrons in the establishment. People who walk through public places with boomboxes blaring on their shoulders are equally odious.

I’m also prejudiced against the abuse of the English language that violates my eardrums every time I venture into a public space and can make out the mumbling emerging from behind what are now affectionately referred to as face-diapers. It’s not just the prevalence of foul and profane diction – it’s also the incessant misuse of the simile “like”, and both “upticks” and “vocal fry!

Hypocrisy stirs up my resentment juices too. We’re all guilty of some hypocrisy of course. But that of the Left dwarfs by a thousand-fold that which is exhibited by the Right. I am prejudiced against people who pollute my neighborhood with Leftist slogans on lawn signs. Though I find the placement of arrows on the aisles of my local supermarket ridiculous, I am prejudiced against those who wantonly ignore them. And while I am yet to be convinced that wearing masks does anything more than fog up my glasses and make me uncomfortable and difficult to understand unless I yell, I am even more prejudiced against those who try to shame anyone who refuses to wear them!

And I’m prejudiced against megalomaniacal politicians or anyone else who deliberately deceives, prevaricates, dissembles, misrepresents or outright lies to gain power or recognition. It doesn’t matter what their skin color is, their heritage, their religion, their sex…it is their attempt to impose their warped and often evil ideology as well as the assault on my freedom and my principles that I find so abhorrent.

I discriminate daily…in my choice of which channel I watch on television, which websites I visit, which coffee or bread I buy at the market. I discriminate in what I read, what form of exercise I choose, what wine I serve at dinner, what soap I prefer in the shower. I will continue to eschew places and people I find offensive, will judiciously avoid vacation destinations where I’m made to feel uncomfortable as I seek to enjoy the finest things I can afford…things I worked so hard at for so long and deserve.

Keep it up Leftists and you’ll be able to apply even more labels to me. Soon you’ll pejoratively label me a “worshipper”. Perhaps you’ll even accuse me of being “a man”.

My Dad, as he saw what my generation did to the America his (The Greatest Generation) fought so hard for, used to quote the title of the 60’s Musical, “Stop the world I want to get off.” I’m close to begin repeating that quip as well.

Tactics of the Left

America, Economy, Education, Government, Headlines, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Science, Society & Culture, Values

John Hawkins is one of my favorite conservative authors. In an essay penned back in October 2017 he listed, presciently, how the Left was then destroying and would in the future destroy our culture. With full credit and attribution to Hawkins, who’s full essay is available on Town Hall, here’s a summary:

First, to quote his introduction (Note: I’ve replaced the term “Liberalism with “Leftism, “Liberals” with “Leftists”:

“There was a time when we used to be a nation that pushed freedom, responsibility, decency, patriotism and hard work. Some of us still believe in those things, but because of Leftism, much more destructive values have seeped into our culture like toxic waste. There are many ways that Leftists have degraded our culture, but these are the worst of the worst.”

And here’s his list:

1.            The Politicization of Everything.

2.            Political Correctness.

3.            Victimhood.

4.            Leftist Feminism.

5.            Tribalism.

6.            “Non-Judgmentalism”.

Today, one has only to open one’s eyes and ears to see these weapons on display. I would add to his list:

7.            Atheism. While I believe that the only Being in the universe who can prove to you whether He exists or not is God, faith is a very individual thing. By way of contrast, Atheism is a collective imposition of an ideology that doesn’t just eschew faith, but condemns and seeks to eradicate it. It’s obvious that the Left, by seeking to destroy faith, is seeking to replace God with its own brand of religion.

8.            Saturation. The Left seeks to dominate the airwaves in every form and in every medium so as to crowd out, squash, eradicate any dissent.

9.            Falsehood. “Creative Misrepresentation” is the euphemism that Leftist intellectuals use to describe the outright lying and deception used to advance their poisonous ideology. This should be obvious to any paying-attention individual.

10.          Projection. Have you ever noticed that the Left screams at the top of their lungs accusations at the Right that represent precisely what the Left is doing? There is no end to the hypocrisy and deceit they will use to achieve their ends.

11.          Hijacking the Vocabulary. “Choice”, “Social Justice”, “Democratic Socialism”, “Extremism”, “Investment (a.k.a. ‘taxation and spending’), “Science”, “Fair Share”, “The Wealthy”, “Balance”, “Liberal”, “Progressive”, “Racist”, “Undocumented Immigrant”, “Domestic Terrorist”, “Universal Background Checks”, “Assault Rifle”, “Diversity”, “Inclusion”, “Affirmative Action”, “Globalism”, “Climate Change”, “Resistance”, “Human Rights”, “Tolerance”, etc. All of these terms and countless others have been utilized, twisted, turned into Orwell’s Doublespeak, used as euphemisms or been completely destroyed and replaced by the Left.

12.          Revising History. The 1619 Project, the tearing down of historical figure statues, Howard Zinn, the vilification and attempted discrediting of historical leaders like the Founding Fathers…need I say more?

I expect if I thought about it long enough I could expand this list considerably. No matter. My readers know exactly what I’m talking about anyway, and could similarly add to it. The key is to fight, advance and not retreat in the face of these Leftist tactics.

We must pick our battles, yes, but not shun the fight.

Right Before Our Very Eyes

America, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

I just read one of the most damning and frightening exposés ever written by my most respected conservative intellectual. Victor Davis Hanson has penned a piece describing not only what is currently happening to our country and society, but also what more could happen to it if the Left gains any more power.

I strongly recommend reading the entire essay, entitled “Will 2021 be 1984”, available here. To wet your appetite, the first paragraph follows:

“Cultural revolutions are insidious and not just because they seek to change the way people think, write, speak, and act. They are also dangerous because they are fueled by self-righteous sanctimoniousness, expressed in seemingly innocuous terms such as “social activism,” “equality,” and “fairness.”

I’ve often used the fable of the frog dropped in a pot of water as well as the adage “a death by a thousand cuts” to describe what’s happening to us. The former, just in case you’re not familiar with it, teaches us that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out. If, however, you place a frog in lukewarm water and turn up the heat gradually, it will remain until it is boiled to death. The latter, of course, refers to how we could bleed to death while hardly noticing it.

Referring to these in either case, what I’ve suggested many times is that it is by small steps and increments that the evil ideology perpetrated by the Left has infiltrated virtually every aspect of our lives. And, truth be known, it has gone past the point where we can openly criticize it for fear of our personal safety, livelihoods and property not to mention our communities. Teaching by example doesn’t work. “Hitting them up side of the head” doesn’t work. Shaming their disgusting behavior and exposing their lies, distortions and idiocies doesn’t work. Now, we have cause to be fearful that even the ballot box and our ability to vote out the fools will be violated.

Could it be that our pugilist/counter-puncher-in-chief and those on the Right, fractious and fractured as they may be, will nevertheless successfully defend what’s left of Good and triumph over Evil? Alas, I wish I were young again and had the strength, clarity of mind and resources to add my outcry and condemnation to the cause of preserving our liberty, meritocracy… in short, our way of life. I hope by bringing to the attention of my now hundreds of readers the words and ideas of people far smarter and articulate than I, I will have done a small service to countering the noxious noise with which the Left has saturated the air.

I fear that we’ve traveled so far down the slippery slope that it will take something akin to another 9-11 or a counter-revolution from within to leash or better, destroy this Leftist cancer. On the other hand, the optimistic view is that perhaps, what we’re seeing are the remaining, thrashing, death throes of a dying hydra. I pray it’s the latter and urge EVERYONE who values what’s RIGHT to courageously speak up, defend yourselves and your families against the scourge, and vote, futile as it may seem, accordingly.

Thank You Bari Weiss

America, Headlines, Media, Reason, Values

I’ve been saying for some time now that the Left will eventually implode on itself. Optimist that I am, my view has been that Right (.sic) will prevail over wrong (Left) as Americans eschew the nonsense that fills the airwaves and either: a) by example prove that the virtues of our country embodied in the ideology of the Right are, while of course not perfect, the best way to achieve the most prosperity for all and/or b) vote to support political candidates, imperfect as they too are, who support TRUE American values rather than the necrotizing vacuousness of the Left.

I sincerely believe, and I’m prayerfully hopeful I’m right, that that which fills our television screens, computer monitors and reading material these days represents the death throes of the evil hydra that seeks to gain ultimate power over our people. I used to believe that the Left was comprised of a benign, warm and fuzzyy people who just wished we “could all get along;” who believed that equality of opportunity needed to be preserved (rather than equality of outcomes). What has become obvious is that the Left truly is bent on dominating the minds and will of mankind by marshaling the forces of the Have-Nots against the Haves. In case this struggle sounds familiar, it is the essence of Karl Marx. It is war of Winners against Losers. I don’t mean winners at any cost, or losers who are such because of circumstances truly beyond their control. I refer to those who live by traditional principles like hard work and meritocracy, self-reliance and societal virtue, law and order, etc. fighting against those who don’t have the self-discipline or strength of character to adhere to these winning principles but rather envy these Winners and simply want to suck from them the fruits of their labor, their honor, their prosperity, alleging “unfairness” and all the other arguments advanced by Marx and his Leftist disciples and progeny.

And while I happen to agree with those who condemn crony-capitalism, a “the ends justify the means” approach to policy and a “winner take all” attitude towards the distribution of both resources and opportunities in our country, having lived and traveled extensively around the world I can state with unequivocal certainty that America, democracy and capitalism have done more for the advancement of humankind than any other country, form of government or economic framework in world history.

The amplifying megaphone that the internet has given to the Leftist hydra has all but drowned out voices of reason, honest debate or any view which opposes the hydra orthodoxy. Thinking people know this of course, but Bari Weiss’ scathing confirmation in her July 14, 2020 resignation letter from the New York Times corroborates and vindicates this understanding. It’s a shame. When I used to live in Los Angeles in the 1970’s I couldn’t bear to read the L.A. Times because of its Leftward inbrededness . Rather, I’d obtain copies of and/or read the New York Times because I felt, at the time, it was more balanced and much less biased.

The New York Times, of course, has become what the L.A. Times always was: a completely biased, nay, militant mouthpiece for every Leftist crackpot idea extant. Nowadays, the term is “woke”. To quote Bari, up until yesterday the Opinion Editor of the Times,

“But the truth is that intellectual curiosity—let alone risk-taking—is now a liability at The Times. Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher, when we can assure ourselves of job security (and clicks) by publishing our 4000th op-ed arguing that Donald Trump is a unique danger to the country and the world? And so self-censorship has become the norm.

What rules that remain at The Times are applied with extreme selectivity. If a person’s ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinized. Everyone else lives in fear of the digital thunderdome. Online venom is excused so long as it is directed at the proper targets.”

And there you have it. It’s worth reading the entire letter which can be found here.

It takes courage to so openly and transparently swim against the Tsunami. I commend Ms. Weiss and hope her valiance will serve as an example for others oppressed by the Hydra and yearning to share what they know to be true in their hearts.

On Propaganda

Government, Headlines, Health Care, Media, Reason, Science

The other day an organization I’d never heard of before was brought to my attention. It is a Swiss-based think tank named Swiss Policy Research Institute (SPRI). It describes itself as “an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit research group investigating geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media”. They can be found at https://swprs.org, and I highly recommend a visit to their site and reading some or all of their essays.

Among their recent studies are several dedicated to the COVID pandemic. For several months now I’ve been calming friends and acquaintances with what I’d call common sense analysis of the numbers and proven facts about the disease. The bottom line has been that the Wuhan Virus is no worse than a bad flu. The only difference is that individuals with compromised health and/or immune systems are at greater risk to contracting it and their bodies’ response to COVID when coupled with their existing medical conditions can become overwhelmed and hasten their demise. SPRI has documented precisely the same conclusion. I reproduce here with due acknowledgment and credit, their most recent research. Links are to supporting data and corroboration.

  1. According to the latest immunological and serological studies, the overall lethality of Covid-19 (IFR) is about 0.1% and thus in the range of a strong seasonal influenza (flu).
  2. In countries like the US, the UK, and also Sweden (without a lockdown), overall mortality since the beginning of the year is in the range of a strong influenza season; in countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland, overall mortality is in the range of a mild influenza season.
  3. Even in global “hotspots”, the risk of death for the general population of school and working age is typically in the range of a daily car ride to work. The risk was initially overestimated because many people with only mild or no symptoms were not taken into account.
  4. Up to 80% of all test-positive persons remain symptom-free. Even among 70-79 year olds, about 60% remain symptom-free. Over 95% of all persons develop at most moderate symptoms.
  5. Up to 60% of all persons may already have a certain cellular background immunity to Covid-19 due to contact with previous coronaviruses (i.e. common cold viruses). The initial assumption that there was no immunity against Covid-19 was not correct.
  6. The median age of the deceased in most countries (including Italy) is over 80 years (e.g. 86 years in Sweden) and only about 4% of the deceased had no serious preconditions. The age and risk profile of deaths thus essentially corresponds to normal mortality.
  7. In many countries, up to two thirds of all extra deaths occurred in nursing homes, which do not benefit from a general lockdown. Moreover, in many cases it is not clear whether these people really died from Covid19 or from weeks of extreme stress and isolation.
  8. Up to 30% of all additional deaths may have been caused not by Covid19, but by the effects of the lockdown, panic and fear. For example, the treatment of heart attacks and strokes decreased by up to 60% because many patients no longer dared to go to hospital.
  9. Even in so-called “Covid19 deaths” it is often not clear whether they died from or with coronavirus (i.e. from underlying diseases) or if they were counted as “presumed cases” and not tested at all. However, official figures usually do not reflect this distinction.
  10. Many media reports of young and healthy people dying from Covid19 turned out to be false: many of these young people either did not die from Covid19, they had already been seriously ill (e.g. from undiagnosed leukemia), or they were in fact 109 instead of 9 years old. The claimed increase in Kawasaki disease in children also turned out to be false.
  11. Strong increases in regional mortality can occur if there is a collapse in the care of the elderly and sick as a result of infection or panic, or if there are additional risk factors such as severe air pollution. Questionable regulations for dealing with the deceased sometimes led to additional bottlenecks in funeral or cremation services.
  12. In countries such as Italy and Spain, and to some extent the UK and the US, hospital overloads due to strong flu waves are not unusual. Moreover, this year up to 15% of health care workers were put into quarantine, even if they developed no symptoms.
  13. The often shown exponential curves of “corona cases” are misleading, as the number of tests also increased exponentially. In most countries, the ratio of positive tests to tests overall (i.e. the positive rate) remained constant at 5% to 25% or increased only slightly. In many countries, the peak of the spread was already reached well before the lockdown.
  14. Countries without curfews and contact bans, such as Japan, South Korea, Belarus or Sweden, have not experienced a more negative course of events than other countries. Sweden was even praised by the WHO and now benefits from higher immunity compared to lockdown countries.
  15. The fear of a shortage of ventilators was unjustified. According to lung specialists, the invasive ventilation (intubation) of Covid19 patients, which is partly done out of fear of spreading the virus, is in fact often counterproductive and damaging to the lungs.
  16. Contrary to original assumptions, various studies have shown that there is no evidence of the virus spreading through aerosols (i.e. tiny particles floating in the air) or through smear infections (e.g. on door handles or smartphones). The main modes of transmission are direct contact and droplets produced when coughing or sneezing.
  17. There is also no scientific evidence for the effectiveness of face masks in healthy or asymptomatic individuals. On the contrary, experts warn that such masks interfere with normal breathing and may become “germ carriers”. Leading doctors called them a “media hype” and “ridiculous”.
  18. Many clinics in Europe and the US remained strongly underutilized or almost empty during the Covid19 peak and in some cases had to send staff home. Millions of surgeries and therapies were cancelled, including many cancer screenings and organ transplants.
  19. Several media were caught trying to dramatize the situation in hospitals, sometimes even with manipulative images and videos. In general, the unprofessional reporting of many media maximized fear and panic in the population.
  20. The virus test kits used internationally are prone to errors and can produce false positive and false negative results. Moreover, the official virus test was not clinically validated due to time pressure and may sometimes react positive to other coronaviruses.
  21. Numerous internationally renowned experts in the fields of virology, immunology and epidemiology consider the measures taken to be counterproductive and recommend rapid natural immunization of the general population and protection of risk groups.
  22. At no time was there a medical reason for the closure of schools, as the risk of disease and transmission in children is extremely low. There is also no medical reason for small classes, masks or ‘social distancing’ rules in schools.
  23. The claim that only (severe) Covid-19 but not influenza may cause venous thrombosis and pulmonary (lung) embolism is not true, as it has been known for 50 years that severe influenza greatly increases the risk of thrombosis and embolism, too.
  24. Several medical experts described express coronavirus vaccines as unnecessary or even dangerous. Indeed, the vaccine against the so-called swine flu of 2009, for example, led to sometimes severe neurological damage and lawsuits in the millions. In the testing of new coronavirus vaccines, too, serious complications and failures have already occurred.
  25. A global influenza or corona pandemic can indeed extend over several seasons, but many studies of a “second wave” are based on very unrealistic assumptions, such as a constant risk of illness and death across all age groups.
  26. Several nurses, e.g. in New York City, described an oftentimes fatal medical mis­manage­ment of Covid patients due to questionable financial incentives or inappropriate medical protocols.
  27. The number of people suffering from unemployment, depressions and domestic violence as a result of the measures has reached historic record values. Several experts predict that the measures will claim far more lives than the virus itself. According to the UN 1.6 billion people around the world are at immediate risk of losing their livelihood.
  28. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that the “corona crisis” will be used for the permanent expansion of global surveillance. Renowned virologist Pablo Goldschmidt spoke of a “global media terror” and “totalitarian measures”. Leading British virologist Professor John Oxford spoke of a “media epidemic”.
  29. More than 600 scientists have warned of an “unprecedented surveillance of society” through problematic apps for “contact tracing”. In some countries, such “contact tracing” is carried out directly by the secret service. In several parts of the world, the population is being monitored by drones and facing serious police overreach during lockdowns.
  30. A 2019 WHO study on public health measures against pandemic influenza found that from a medical perspective, “contact tracing” is “not recommended in any circumstances”. Nevertheless, contact tracing apps have already become partially mandatory in several countries.

I don’t agree with all of their conclusions, but I urge readers to read their work and judge for themselves whether the pandemic is evidence of an apocalypse as much of the media would have you believe (remember, “if it bleeds it leads”) or evidence of propaganda and mass delusion.

Stay well.

Copyright © 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 - All rights reserved - Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy